Ratchet & Clank: The Past Reawoken
by TheObserver17
Summary: After the events of Into The Nexus, Ratchet and Clank's lives go back to as they were with no threats on the horizon. Little did they realize, if the laws of time of broken, it always has a consequence. Old life meant to end in previous timelines breaks free, proving to be not just a threat to the duo, but a threat to all they hold dear. (First story on this website)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

When A46 was fabricated as a Galactic Ranger, he expected planetary warfare, space battles, routine patrols across a conquered city, as well as many other risky situations. What he did not expect, however, was to be stuck in a chair monitoring little to nothing for the majority of his life.

A46 let out an electronic sigh as he swiveled his chair towards his holo-screen. It was the seventh time in the last hour that he checked the cameras for R&D, but that was his orders — and his only way to kill time. The Research and Development floor was, as always, empty. Any potential contraband carriers would be caught by the checkpoint downstairs before they even stepped on one of the elevators, let alone his floor. What would someone do, anyway? Threaten the laziest scientists in the galaxy to make a laser that would burrow into the core of a planet? They would just throw them a laser pointer then call it quits.

Worst. Assignment. Ever.

A46 tapped his blaster hand against the table, waiting for something — _anything_ — to happen. Alas, the R&D lobby remained as quiet as ever.

It had become so tedious that A46 had started to notice every detail of the lobby, from a painting being slightly crooked to a single web strand hanging from the corner. Whatever those eggheads did with that spider, he would never know.

An idea blossomed in 46's CPU. Moving his hand over the holo-screen, he closed the security cam program and switch it to the photo library. At this point, it was better to just watch the past then focus on the ever so boring present.

A46 didn't take many photos ever since he was created, but he took a chance when he was with the rest of his unit. He mentally winced at the thought. He always tried to keep his old unit out of his head.

Several photos popped up in his vision, each of them dating several months apart. He eyed a couple of pictures, feelings of nostalgia pricking at his metal insides. Most of them centered around him and his unit huddled together into one small group in front of the camera. Their backgrounds differed greatly, however, ranging from the battlefields of Tyhrranosis to the rainy city known as Blackwater. Those were some great times, depending on how patient you were with being under the constant threat of being blasted.

There was one photo that stuck out to A46's optics, however. It was back on the Starship Pheonix before Sasha Phyronix was elected as the mayor of Metropolis. Way back, 46 was fresh off the assembly line and assigned to the protection of the Starship. It was an interesting assignment, to say the least. The Ship went through many ordeals, but he was quickly moved elsewhere after Nefarious was defeated. The photo was taken in the hanger of the ship with the only other guard assigned with him. They were crouched on their knees with their normal hands at their sides. Both of them looked directly at the camera, their blaster arms on their knees. They were a lot more professional back then. What interested him the most, however, was behind them. The hanger was there, sure, but a ship also sat inert. To this day, it amazed 46 that he managed to get a picture of the ship. The ship itself wasn't much of a sight, but two figures were sitting on top. The owners of the ship were an interesting pair. A furred lombax sat there, unknowing there was a camera pointing at him at the time. His metallic companion had noticed, however, and was waving at the two guards when they got the picture. Ratchet and Clank, as recognizable as they were today. If only he had known of the feats they would have pulled, the saviors that would have become. He would have treated the picture like a treasure as he did today.

Suddenly, a small ding pinged through the room. It was a noise that the ranger was very familiar with, yet surprised to hear it all the same. The elevator had stopped at his floor, for once.

The far sliding doors opened with a hiss of air and out stepped three characters, deep in chat — well, at least two of them were. The third looked as if he was nodding along unknowingly.

46 had recognized them in an instant and quickly opened the camera program and saluted as they passed through the checkpoint. The detectors pinged green as they passed by, and three names appeared on his holo-screen.

**TALWYN APOGEE - PDF**

**RATCHET - MULTIPLE FACTION INSTANCES DETECTED**

**CLANK - MULTIPLE FACTION INSTANCES DETECTED**

A46 tensed at the confirmation, despite him knowing who they were. As soon as the markazian and lombax tails disappeared around the far corner, he let out a sigh of relief. He didn't want to seem as lazy as researchers in front of three heroes. What were they doing at the Towers' R&D center, anyways? The guys had managed to make some advanced security scanners last week, so maybe the trio were coming to check up on them before hauling them. Despite their laziness, the scientists still were slightly useful when it came to their own security. They had installed them just the day before at the checkpoint, and A46 was on orders to keep an eye on their results. Even if he didn't like R&D's current employees, he still respected their requests.

With a click, 46 pulled up the scanner reports. The three names popped up again, but this time there was an alert icon next to Ratchet's name. He pulled it up, revealing a diagram of the scan of the lombax's body. Everything seemed to check out, besides the usual equipment that was deemed alright for Ratchet, but the alert still stood out. The only time that happened when the scanners picked up a second life form abnormally close or inside the body. The scans would have noticed any unnatural biomasses in the body, however, and there was nothing. A glitch with the system, perhaps? Maybe they weren't familiar with lombax biology. With a nod of his head, 46 closed the program and turned back to his photo library. Little did he know, however, that if he examined close enough, he would have discovered the ever so slightest bubble that the scan had not picked up in the brain. Inside that very mass, a second mind went to work.


	2. Chapter I

**Chapter 1**

It was around midnight when Ratchet heard the voices. They were small, but noticeable, as he worked at his bench, disassembling a small Tirian-class rifle he had bought on Blackwater. It was difficult, trying to take it apart, and his frustration only worsened when the voices started. Eventually, Ratchet slammed his fist down in a fit of anger and grabbed his wrench. Maybe a good whack to the side would disable that damn holovision once and for all, and also teach Clank a lesson for playing Secret Agent Clank in the middle of the night.

Besides the voices, the garage was mostly silent since most of the noise came from their neighbors in the day. Ratchet had grown used to working on his projects in the middle of the night, as the smallest noise would get him worked up. Years of "hero" work will do that for ya.

Darkness waited in every hall and room, despite the garage's access to a power supply. It ran on some generators, however, and they ran plasma, which was high priced as of now. The duo did have to bolts for it, but they still had to be careful if the power did go out. It was a pain when the lights went out when you're working underneath an eight-thousand-pound spaceship where the slightest wrong cut could turn the garage into a smoking crater.

As he went down the hall, the doorway to his bedroom began to stand out in the darkness. Blue light shone through it and blinded the lombax slightly as he inched towards it. The voices seemed to have gotten louder, yet there were still mostly incoherent. The holo must've been on low volume, which was strange, considering he could hear it from the workshop.

He swiftly stormed through the open doorway, wrench raised to break apart the holo (Not really, but he would give it a good smack to annoy Clank). When his eyes adjusted to the glare of the light, however, Ratchet was greeted by an empty bedroom. There was no sign of Clank, besides the holo-screen with a paused logo shining on it. The bot must have paused it and forgotten to turn it off. The voices were slightly muffled now, indicating that they were in another room. It was strange, considering that Clank always watched the screen in the bedroom. Probably to avoid any dangerous gadgets that Ratchet whips up in his workshop

Sighing with annoyance at the waste of power, the lombax lowered the wrench and went to turn off the holo. Before he could, however, a chill spread across his body, his hairs standing up. Something was wrong. Whether it was out of paranoia or instinct, Ratchet swiveled his head towards the bedroom doorway. He froze dead in his tracks.

A figure, hidden by the shadows, stood soundlessly in the doorway. Despite the light still shining from the holo, the intruder remained as a blob of darkness. It felt unnatural, despite the fact he could be just out of the light's reach.

Willing himself out of his shock, Ratchet raised his hand, omniwrench held within, and watched the shadow for any movements, a chance to show weakness. Instead, it stood as still was a painting, not a sign of any movement. A moment of silence had followed, filling the room with unease when the figure acted. It spoke, it's voice no louder than a whisper. "He hasn't told you everything." The figure stared silently at Ratchet as if waiting for a response, then raised its arm. It pointed past him, towards the holo that stood behind the lombax, yet before Ratchet could see what the figure was hinting at, the holo turned off. The room was quickly absorbed by the darkness.

In a fit of panic, Ratchet swung his wrench wildly, trying to hit the figure. He knew the tactic. Blind the enemy then kill them silently. He had seen it once before, and he knew his best chance was to not let them get close.

It wasn't until when two green dots appeared in the doorway and when the lights came on when he stopped swinging, realizing who entered the room.

"Ratchet," Clank began. "What are you doing?"

The stranger was gone, its icy atmosphere taken with it.

Ratchet looked watched the hallway behind Clank, looking for any movement. "Did you see anyone leave the room?"

The bot shook his head, arms still crossed. "My optics did not see anything, no. The only thing I saw was you entering the room."

Ratchet's pulse quickened. The last thing he needed was an invisible intruder roaming the garage. Clank remained unfazed of the idea of someone in the building, however. "Let me ask you a question now since you didn't answer the last: When was the last time you've rested?" Clank inquired. Ratchet felt his frustration rise as he realized what this was leading to. "Not since last night," He muttered. "But what does that have to do with the fact that someone's broken in?!" He tried to walk out the door, but a metal arm blocked him from leaving.

"Look, there's plenty of stealth kits on the market. He could have cloaked before leaving," Ratchet explained, shoving past Clank's arm.

"All of which are currently priced above at least two million bolts. You of all people should also know that someone stealth cloaked can still be detected by robots because of the cloak's distortion." Clank shook his head. "Just face it, Ratchet. You're sleep-deprived and you need to rest."

"But it was real! It even turned off the holo-screen."

Clank gave him a curious look. "You know that I hate to waste power, and I know that you don't ever watch anything in here. Not to mention that the holo also gives off annoying signals when left on, and I was just in the other room. It was most definitely off." Ratchet's panic began to shallow out. While he still felt as if there was someone here, Clank's doubts were reasonable. Maybe he hasn't gotten enough sleep.

Sighing, the lombax looked around the room. How nice that this all occurred in his bedroom. "Alright," Ratchet replied. "I'll… get some rest, I suppose. Just keep an eye out, okay? I just want to be careful." Clank nodded his head. "I will wake you if anything happens. Besides, we have to leave tomorrow."

"What for? I never received any comms." Ratchet groaned. "Don't tell me it's Quark's birthday tomorrow. The last thing I need to hear is more of his gloating."

Clank chuckled. "No, no. I was just talking with Sigmund. As it turns out, he found some recordings from Orvus and felt as if I should see them." He studied Ratchet's face as the lombax removed his gloves. "That doesn't bother you, does it? I'd understand if you want to avoid the Clock."

It was Ratchet's turn to laugh now as disbelief filled him. "And take away my pal's chance at seeing his father again?" His mind wandered to the Praetorian wrench, stored in one of the other rooms, but he shook his head. "Bad memories or not, we're going. Just because I didn't have my chance doesn't mean I should take away yours." With that, he sat on his bed, his oil-covered clothes in front of him. "Shut the light off on the way out, would ya?"

Clank nodded, and as he turned and shut off the lights, Ratchet heard him mutter thanks as he exited the room.

Ratchet laid there for quite some time, waiting for sleep to overtake him, but his mind was still awake after the events that night. Even if he had hallucinated the figure, what was with the voices? They had stopped long ago, during his encounter with the shadow, but they certainly weren't a hallucination.

Then the truth hit him, and it almost made Ratchet laugh at his ignorance. Clank had stated he was talking with Sigmund. It was just the two of them chatting over a comm. It would explain why he heard it in the other room. And here Ratchet was, freaking out over a simple conversation.

It wasn't until about a moment later when a familiar blue light filled the room, causing Ratchet to sit up, hand out, to turn off the holo. When his eyes finally adjusted, he lowered his arm and hopped out of bed to press the holo's power button when he saw an image plastered across the screen.

Alarms went off in his head as he observed it, old dread returning as he thought of the figure pointing at the holo. It showed a zoomed-in photo, directly at a face.

Clank.

What was the shadow trying to tell him?

* * *

_Hello! The Observer here. I realize that my chapters have been quite short and such, but I do plan on expanding their length once I get to the more interesting moments. (Not that I meant for these to be short). Again, any feedback will be great, good or bad. Just don't start any fights, alright? _


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